1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for winding textile materials on a cylindrical tube. More specifically, the invention pertains to apparatus for winding relatively narrow strips of fabric such as slide fastener stringer tapes on a socalled "beam" for treatment with dyeing, bleaching and other liquid media.
2. Prior Art
There are known a variety of beam devices, a typical example of which includes a perforated cylindrical tube or beam with both ends closed by disc flanges extending substantially at right angles to the axis of the tube. When wrapping the beam with an elongate strip of fabric tape, this is done by winding the strip helically from one end to the other and inverting the direction of feed of the same upon arrival at either of the opposed flanges of the beam, with the results that the layers of strip become less dense at the areas adjoining the flanges than at the remaining peripheral areas of the beam and hence are disposed less stably. As a treatment liquid is forced through the layers of strip or tape in such a condition, the flow of the liquid tends to be directed predominantly toward the less dense layer material at the flange areas, resulting in locally overtreated material or otherwise defective finish of the material. This difficulty, in the case of continuous slide fastener tapes carrying rows of coupling elements, would give rise to deformation of the tape web under the influence of liquid pressure. This tendency is greater the more volume of the wound material, imposing a control on the amount of material that can be wound on a beam of a given size. Further, it has been a common practice to utilize a pair of limit switches and a lever mechanism, both mounted on the beam, to switch the direction of helical winding of the strip.
An improved beam, which has been proposed by a commonly assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 302,731 filed Sept. 16, 1981, has a pair of perforated conical portions each disposed between a central barrel portion and a respective one of a pair of flanges at opposite ends of the beam. However, the limit-switch-and-lever control cannot be adaptable for use with the improved beam. The invention is an improvement over the prior art control.